Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Railroaded?

We couldn't resist commenting on the mayor's efforts to get the MTA to sell the Hudson Rail Yards to the city for the bargain price of $300 million. Why do we still get the feeling that the mayor sees all this property, much like he saw the BTM site, as the back forty of the Bloomberg ranch?

Eliot Spitzer is right. The city needs to put the land up for competitive bid. After that, the uses can be controlled by the mayor and the speaker through the normal land use review process. All of this, just like the Willets Point development could benefit from greater transparency. One thing is certain the private sector needs to be involved more than government if the area is to developed anytime soon.